Showing 1 - 8 of 8
Mae Sot's trade vs security dilemma
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 01/04/2025
» At Mae Sot International Airport, all passengers must now undergo a strict immigration check and police screening before they can board designated flights. The new stringent measures aim to prevent scammers from using this western border hub as a transit route across the border.
Thai-Cambodian ties enter a new era
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 30/01/2024
» Exactly 37 days before Samdech Moha Borvor Thipadei Hun Manet was due to fly to Bangkok on Feb 7 for a one-day official visit, Cambodia extended Thai border pass access to Siem Reap, where Angkor Wat is located. This was an act of goodwill as the proposal has been on the table for discussions since Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin's visit to Phnom Penh in September -- his first official foreign destination after being elected Thai leader.
Asean's response to Israel-Hamas war
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 17/10/2023
» More than ever before, the current Israeli-Hamas war has revealed the starkly different positions and views held by the 10 Asean members towards the abiding conflict in the Middle East. Asean has not issued a joint statement over the brutal attacks by the Palestinian militant group Hamas, which launched a large-scale offensive from the Gaza Strip on southern Israel on Oct 7.
Can Thai passports' power get a lift?
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 19/09/2023
» At the first cabinet meeting last week, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin announced one of the government's priorities -- improving the power of Thai passports. It is a headline goal that will require extraordinary efforts to achieve. Upgrading a national passport to a higher level involves numerous factors -- economic, socio-cultural, and political -- as well as the general optics of the partnership countries. After all, the large number of visitors to a country is not an indicator of how powerful its passport is. A country might be given more visa-free accessibility and be popular for foreign passports, but its own passport's power can still be low.
Remembering Abe and Japan's rise
Oped, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 12/07/2022
» It is not an overstatement to say that the late prime minister Shinzo Abe single-handedly promoted Japan's regional and international profile through unconventional economic and security policies. Abe linked his country's economic policies with security and strategic twists in its relations with the rest of the world, Asean in particular.
Learn from past visa-waiver mishap
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 27/08/2019
» In September 2003, the Thai government undertook the most incredible step by signing a visa-waiver agreement with Russia. No other Asean country had dared to do that before.
New mindsets needed at Suvarnabhumi
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 04/09/2018
» Warning: Cheap packages tours to Thailand from China for the coming Mid-Autumn Festival (third week of September) and National Day (first week of October) are nearly fully booked. However, some major tourist agencies in the posh Chaoyangmenwai Street still hold out hope that Thailand will waive visa fees for their holidaymakers once again.
Making Thai passports more powerful
News, Kavi Chongkittavorn, Published on 16/01/2018
» For a country that welcomed more than 33 million visitors from well over 150 countries last year, it is shocking to find out that Thai passport holders can go to just 73 countries without visas. That is pathetic and unacceptable and well below Singapore and Malaysia whose citizens can visit 176 and 166 countries visa-free respectively.